


SAO: Magic's Rebirth

by Genuka



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sword Art Online
Genre: Gen, Magic, May Be Long fic, May Become Multi-cross Fic, Potter Luck, Random Updates, Rating May Change, Relationships section May Change, Tags May Change, The Muse has more control over this fic than I do, Video Game Mechanics, Warnings May Change, Work In Progress, category may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-04 17:22:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14597952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genuka/pseuds/Genuka
Summary: Sword Art Online, a fantasy video game where the player has no magic but must still face a magical world with fantasy monsters. The world that Kayaba Akihiko turned from a new Virtual Reality Massive Multi-player Online game into aDeath Game, where one who dies in game, dies in real life.Death, Magic, and Fate have hijacked the game. Their goal? Keep Harry Potter from slowly killing himself through the wishes of others. Severus Snape and Tom Riddle? Well they are just along for the ride.Damn that Potter luck!





	1. Unexpected Returns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Trickster32](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trickster32/gifts), [ReflectionsOTR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReflectionsOTR/gifts), [Giz2mo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giz2mo/gifts), [rozielrie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozielrie/gifts), [Wolfmistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfmistress/gifts), [Musical_life](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musical_life/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Mystic Knight Online](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6385204) by [JGKitarel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JGKitarel/pseuds/JGKitarel). 



> This is largely the result of using the Mystic Knight Online series to unwind while writing Royal Tea, my invasion/time travel fic.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Death contemplated his master and the many secrets his master was either only partially aware of or not aware of at all. Things had gone so very wrong in many ways both with his young master's upbringing and with his current life. Oh, his master wasn't in any danger or distress beyond the normal caused by hunting law breakers but even Fate and Magic were bothered by his socially acceptable white picket fence, house, dog, and wife existence. Part of it was the lack of children but most of it was how Harry James Potter was forcing as completely bland and normal of a life on to himself as he could manage.

It was _destroying_ him.

Death, Fate, and Magic wouldn't stand for it for much longer. The key seemed to be a Virtual Reality Game that was being released shortly on Japan. _Sword Art Online_ would be getting a few extra players and the factor of the main developer turning it into a literal Death Game was more of a bonus as far as the three entities were concerned. The fact that Cardinal System was sentient enough to recognize them as permanent reality administrators with complete access to any and all functions just made things easier. A little time and effort eased not only Harry but several other people into the game as special characters. A sharp snapping of his marriage bond, one which was killing him just as much as everything else in his life, tore the green-eyed wizard free of his old life making all but the Goblins believe that he was dead. Indeed to all but those entering the game alongside him and his bankers he would be dead in all ways. As a precaution, to keep Harry from being sucked back into his previous life, they decided that should someone complete the game Harry's special little group would publicly manifest in brand new bodies. No one would be able to deny their existence or the existence of magic ever again.

The 72nd floor boss monster shattered, sending up a cheer from the boss raid that had taken it down. Kirito had been forced into revealing his unique skill Dual Blades, which allowed him to use two swords at once, to beat the boss and rescue the raid party.

"A unique skill, like my ability to swap from offense to defense and back without penalty," Heathcliff said approvingly. His white trimmed red armor and buff idealized body with long silver hair lent a confidence to that man that few could ignore. He was the image of a perfect heroic leader "Kayaba must have decided to make things interesting if he has started handing out Unique skills, or you did something to impress him. Very appropriate for the Black Swordsman, I think."

Kirito, a thin and gangly teen with dark hair and dark eyes to go with his black clothes and armor, shrugged uncomfortably. He made to step towards his friends only to trip over a recessed lever in the floor.

"What's this?" Kirito muttered as the rest of the raid gathered around to see what he had found.

"This is the first time I've run across something like this," Agil frowned, his big bulky body trying to block out all light in an attempt to match his equally dark skin as he leaned over his shorter and younger friend.

"Move, I need light for this," Kirito scowled. Everyone immediately backed up a bit to give him room and light to work with.

"Wait! Take a better look. Whatever that is doesn't match the game graphics. Its too real! I can tell that just by looking at the detail," Heathcliff warned quickly. Inwardly the blood colored armor clad man winced as he realized that he might have to reveal himself early to deal with this as the Game Master and only active Admin, Kayaba Akihiko.

"Why would Kayaba waste extra data on making it _more_ real?" Klein asked suspiciously, adjusting his red bandana headband absently as he scowled at the lever along with almost everyone else. His in game attempt at mimicking a samurai was actually looking close to a cut down version of the historical samurai look even with red being the primary color of his armor.

"Unless Kayaba didn't put this in," Asuna pointed out. Her lithe frame and long blond hair combined with her red trimmed white armor of her guild, the Knights of Blood, in a stark contrast to Kirito's mostly black outfit. "One of the other designers could have done it."

"Yeah, but with the amount of data and coding that it probably needed to make it this _real_ why bother? Even making it a special event trigger they could have just changed the color of the standard lever and put it on a wall instead of in the floor with a completely different design and... are those _runes?!_ Why the hell would there be _runes_?" Agil asked baffled. "This makes no sense."

"Only one way to find out. Everyone be ready in case this triggers a trap," Kirito warned as he reached for the lever. The rest of the raid quickly prepared for battle, topping off health, pulling out weapons, setting various items to quick use on the menu. Once everyone was ready Kirito pulled the lever.

Severus Snape, Harry Potter, and Tom Riddle had been floating blankly in this null space, reviewing the entirety of SAO. Their minds were encased in a nice bubbly sensation that made everything seem either dream-like or unimportant. They knew the lever would change that.


	2. Game Mechanics for Dummies

The lever dissolved under Kirito's hand after being pulled only to reform as a rune covered metal cube balanced on a single corner floating in mid-air above the hole in the center of the platform. A hole which suddenly had a grate covering it. The edges of the cube slowly split apart into three pieces containing three sides of the cube each. A flood of viscous light green fluid flowed from the cube down to the platform only to flow straight through. The three young men caught in the fluid, however, landed on the grating and started coughing up the liquid as they struggled with their soaked robes along with the clothing underneath.

Everyone observed them warily, wondering if they were some kind of AI, NPC, or a new kind of monster that looked like a player. The three were clearly between the ages of 17 and 25 if they were players. All three appeared to be roughly the same age, there might have been close to a year between each of their actual ages from their looks. The clear oldest had Ruby colored eyes and the clear youngest had Emerald colored eyes, while the middle one had Onyx eyes.

Harry was the first one to get a good look around and at the other two soaked people.

"Oh, hell no! You're both dead! I killed Voldy and Voldy had already killed Snape! Or at least he ordered Nagini to kill him," Harry complained. He didn't bother trying to get away from them, too tired and weighed down by they goop soaked clothes.

"Potter!" Severus snarled as he turned to glare on the direction of the familiar irritating voice of the brat he had fought so hard to keep alive.

"Don't bother Severus," Tom said tiredly. "We all saw each other's important memories along with a summary of SAO and some parts of several player histories while stuck in that cube. Just hug him and be done with it."

"So... that was? ... oh," Harry muttered sheepishly. He wouldn't admit it but this was the most alive he had felt in over a decade. The memories had been both sad and interesting at times. Of course now he felt like he had violated the privacy of the other two men even though it wasn't his fault... at least he didn't _think_ it was his fault.

Severus considered both fellow wizards for a moment before suddenly lunging and pinning Harry underneath him.

"Hey! Ge'off!" Harry complained, shoving ineffectually at the other man before finally giving up in exasperation.

"You aren't leaving my side while we are here," Severus growled. "If I get even a hint of you getting near a red player or your health dropping into the red you'll wish that we were still restricted by the Hogwarts code of conduct."

"Ah, that means you aren't going to stick to just giving me detentions doesn't it?" Harry chuckled nervously.

Severus gave him a _What do you think?_ glower, keeping him pinned underneath the Potion Master's larger form.

"It means that he will feel no guilt using any and every means at his disposal. This includes but is not limited to the many different potions and poisons he can make as a potions master, the skills he learned as a Death Eater, the various things he learned during earning his Defense Mastery... and anything else he might have picked up along the way. Then there is the fact that I think we need you relatively intact to get out of this so I will help him curb your Gryffindor recklessness, adding my own talents to reminding you that you need to stay alive," Tom added helpfully, smirk firmly in place.

"Right," Harry said in wary resignation. "Anyone know how we even got here? I'm pretty sure I was at work and you two were still dead."

In response a form covered in a black cloak with a deep hood and no apparent person within appeared to melt from the shadows and watch all of them silently.

"Kayaba!" many of the players cried in outrage, thinking this was the man who had trapped them and addressed them at the start of the death game.

A low chuckle that resonated in their very bones echoed from the form.

"I am not Kayaba," Death chuckled. He manifested his scythe as a very blatant hint as to who he was.

"Please tell me you're joking," Harry begged pitifully. Severus' arms tightened around him almost protectively as the taller wizard glared in disbelief, still sprawled atop the green-eyed imp.

"Now master why would I do that?" Death chided gently. "After we went through all this trouble to rescue you from dying. I will admit that your slow death wasn't physical _yet_ but in many ways that was worse for one such as you. As your marriage bond with Ginerva Weasley was contributing to your death and you had no children it was severed. Magic, Fate, and I agreed that you should have some companions and that both Severus' and Tom's souls had been reaching for yours for some time. I will let the three of you decide how to treat what comes with it."

"But! The Hallows are gone!" Harry blurted out desperately.

"You released the stone in the forest and snapped the wand before tossing away the pieces. My cloak you kept... yet not once did you relinquish them into the ownership of another. You retain my Hallows and all that comes with them in your very blood," Death cackled. A wave of a now visible boney hand had Harry crying out in pain. He quickly scrabble at his chest with the aid of Severus until his bare skin was exposed to reveal the mark of the Hallows glowing bright red on his chest before fading to a healed black brand over his heart.

"Oh shite!" Harry whispered in horrified shock.

"If you let your companions wander from you for too long or too far the bond that now lays dormant will spring to life and _drag_ the three of you back together," Death warned with dark amusement. "Cardinal System has graciously allowed you an equivalent level and skill set as a part of entering SAO in such a... unique fashion. As a reward to the players for assisting with this situation and accepting you three into their community and world all abilities learned and refined here will be transferred to their bodies upon waking from this dream world. Magic is... displeased with how her people are dying out and in general using only a fraction of her gifts, in essence trying to kill her. As such all but Kayaba and possibly the red players will get to translate and keep _everything_ from here. However, all will also regain the sensation of pain once they return to their bodies. The magic aspects will mostly be the inventory, menu, status window, etc. They will also be recognized by all muggle related magics as being magical and can, using a blood adoption, allow both Squibs and full magicals into their ranks. A non-magical human who wishes to become part of this new people... well the ritual will be _extremely painful_ and not for the faint of heart. Either way the abilities will pass to any children that these SAO survivors may have and will transfer to any they already have upon clearing the game. Though everyone not already a part of SAO will be automatically starting at level 1 as the original trapped players did to keep thing even."

"Do you still have Admin access?" Harry asked shrewdly.

"Ah, you want the children to go free and possibly to know the price of all this?" Death guessed with fond amusement. Harry nodded shortly in response, still sitting on the floor covered in a lessening layer of goop that was slowly draining through the gate underneath them. 

"Why must we be trapped in Potter's mess?" Severus snarked irritably to no one in particular.

"The price?" Death asked again with a pondering mien, completely ignoring Severus' sulking complaint. "Well Magic wants you dragging the rest of her people out of the dark ages and back into proper society or at least have them openly acknowledged so that they don't have to hide anymore. Fate wants you to stop ignoring your own needs, emotional and otherwise, in favor of what makes everyone else happy. Me? I want you to accept your post and not try to get out of being my master. Incidentally, being my master doesn't give you complete control over me even if you were of the proper age to assume all rights and responsibilities that come with the title."

"That is your price for all of this?" Tom asked carefully, waving at the surrounding trapped SAO players.

"Well no, that's the price for using all of you to create a new magical race... once you beat the game that is. As for keeping anyone else from actually dying aside from Kayaba? His death is assured partly due to his... established plan for the final floor and partly because of his other offenses," Death said cheerfully. "All illness and infirmities are healed with the transformation between races including poor eye sight, amputations, burns, cancer, bad hearts, etc. The AIs Cardinal and Yui can earn their own unique bodies or a physical avatar for better interaction with people in general. The price for releasing the children and ensuring the continued, if comatose, survival of everyone until the game is actually cleared? Now _that_ is a secret. See if you can't figure it out hmm?"

"Is there a way to disqualify the assured survival?" Asuna asked fearfully. She hated to be the one to ask but it had to be done.

"Not for anyone currently under the age of 14 or those currently lower than level 20," Death answered wickedly. After all he didn't want to take the danger out of the equation quite yet and the red players needed to deliver several souls to him before this death game was done. They also had a number of more floors to clear before winning free of Anicrad.

"For everyone else?" Kirito asked apprehensively.

"Lets say you get _one_ free revival that can be sacrificed for use on someone else. The newly revived is stripped of half their col and half the accumulated experience from a random non-combat skill before being dumped back in the town of beginnings and locked into the cathedral for a week. Perhaps forced to watch a kiddy show while trapped?" Death mused. "There is a method for an attacker to negate the revival process but I won't detail it."

"Do I want to know what the alternative is?" Harry asked warily. Death smirked, how that was even possible without a mouth or a visible face no one could tell, and _vanished_.

"Guess not," Klein muttered, eyeing the area where Death had been floating warily.

"They aren't registering as NPCs," Agil noted faintly.

"NP...? Oh! Game characters that aren't actually sentient. No, we have or had bodies and were born human just like the rest of you. I can't answer what we are now since, you know, entities of power meddling with things and magic being involved," Harry shrugged. "While weird I can honestly say that this is not really the weirdest thing to have happened to me."

"Oh? And prey tell what _is_ the weirdest thing to have happened to you?" Severus challenged with a frown.

"Lets see it started with finding out that I was actually a wizard, famous for the surviving when my parents didn't instead of the unwanted child of two dead drunks of... questionable morality. The next part was discovering that not only do I have to fight my parents' insane Dark Lord of a murderer but that to beat him I have to hunt down and destroy the treasures containing the pieces of his shattered soul. Oh yeah and I had a piece of him inside me so I had to die by his wand to complete the whole making him mortal thing before getting back up and actually killing him... " Harry shot back sarcastically before letting his voice drop into a soft, almost gentle tone. "I never expected to survive after hearing he was still after me at age eleven, Professor. My only goal was to try and save my friends if I could and possibly stop him but I still wanted to pretend I was normal most of the time. This? Doesn't top my school years, not yet. Seven years of learning _magic_ and forced to fight a war not my own as a symbol of hope. Not my idea of fun."

"I take it your relatives told you those appalling lies about your parents?" Tom seethed.

"Um, yeah? Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia _really_ didn't want me knowing about magic and I'm not really sure they knew too much about my parents either... which fits since they really hate anything that isn't freakishly normal and mundane. I was punished for even saying the word magic on more than one occasion to say nothing of performing accidental magic," Harry considered thoughtfully.

"That is screwed up, especially if you had no control of it like the name implies of the accidental magic," Agil concluded. There was a murmur of agreement from everyone else, reminding the three involved wizards of their audience.

"Before this goes further we should all agree on a few things. Does anyone object to the price that Death laid out for the rewards he is promising?" Kirito asked loudly.

"I'd rather not be the Master of Death at all, especially considering he is probably expecting me to accept not being able to die, but I don't actually mind managing to help people so... 50/50?" Harry offered up. By this point the game's auto clean up had kicked in and the three wizards were standing dry and clean in front of the boss raid group.

"I'll want to find a way to offer the change to my wife but it seems pretty fair, becoming a new species to give us a better chance and automatically protecting the kids and low level players from actually dying for real. Plus we get to keep everything we learned and earned here on top of a single not allowed to die revival card per person that can be used on yourself or someone else," Agil put in. "Just keeping our gear into reality is a _sweet_ deal but with the rest? Even with doing what some of us would have done any way for these three? I say we just used up everybody's luck for the next year or two on those concessions alone."

"Don't Jinx us!" Klein squawked in a minor panic. The general agreement of everyone else decided that matter pretty quickly. _No one_ wanted to loose what had just been awarded to them.

Heathcliff discretely checked his admin menu and saw the changes promised by the creature known as Death. He added a few tweaks like pre-emptively logging the children 12 and under completely out of the game with a system wide announcement of the fact as a secret quest award in everyone's message boxes. The game was meant to be beatable after all. He was intentionally helping and would reveal himself as the final boss on the 95th floor unless discovered early. None of this was meant to simply kill people. The reality of dying was a mere incentive to create their own world and life while encouraging the birth of true heroes and champions. Kayaba could care less if his crucible of a game made him a monster in the eyes of everyone else.

"Lets get them into something that will keep them alive either back to town or forwards to floor 73," Klein suggested. "Before anyone else says it a quick way to get them safe would be to kill them but I don't think anyone wants to waste such a precious gift as a revive and I don't think anyone here wants to play red, or the guilt from a PK outside of self defense, even for an hour much less long term. If we sort them out before moving one way or the other then we can decide what to do next without worrying about them shattering on us."

"PK? Shatter? Playing red?" Severus asked warily.

"PK, Player Kill. Since death is real in this game killing another player, especially without provocation or for fun, is basically murder. The game recognizes this as well as other crimes like theft from an NPC. Commit a crime and your cursor, the little green arrow floating over everyone's head, turns orange for a few days. Murder someone and it turns permanently orange. This makes them a Red Player and a likely enemy to everyone they might come across. Playing red comes from being a Red Player. Shatter is a description of what happens when your health hits zero... your body shatters into nothing and the game sends a signal to your NERVE gear that fries your brain," Kirito explained. "We call the game monsters mobs because of the algorithm using mob mentality when they are in groups. Mats is short for materials. Aggro is tripping an enemy's aggression and getting them focused on a target person or area. Like taunts on the playground to another kid. Drawing Aggro is literally becoming the target of the enemy's angry attacks. Admin is short for Administrator and GM is short for Game Master."

"Have you ever played a video game before?" Agil asked with dawning suspicion.

"They were... unavailable," Severus admitted with a joint grimace shared between the three wizards.

"Oh Lord in Heaven, you three had best sit down. We've got a lot to talk about," Agil instructed. Everyone arranged themselves comfortably on the floor of the boss room. Death had told them that helping these three was part of the trade which automatically meant teaching them how to play SAO and survive.

"In most games there are a couple of different things that are standard. Namely Health Point or Hit Points or simply HP, Magic or Magic Points or simply MP, the colored bar on your screen marked HP, are generally set to slowly refill on its own and are often used actively in combat to either fuel spells or indicate how much damage you are taking basically how wounded you are. Character Statistics or Stats are used to customize your character build, specialize in one area or another. They usually consist of Stamina or Endurance, Strength, Luck, Agility, Speed, Intelligence, Wisdom... That sort of thing. Each level or every couple of levels you will get a limited number of Stat points to spend on whatever you please within your character stats. In some games you can use them for other things as well," Agil started off the gaming crash course.

Asuna demonstrated by opening up her menu and making it visible to show her character stats to the trio.

"Most games usually have a main story to follow through with side quests and things and you can easily get attacked between safe areas or simply have to fight through game monsters to get anywhere or retrieve anything. You won't see any magic in this game except for the crystals, potions, and maybe the teleport gates. This was billed specifically as a fantasy game without the magic. Which means that you can't cast magic here since there is no magical ability to cast with, no MP. Also in most games you get a set skill tree based on your chosen job title and specialization, opening up skills and abilities based on your character stats," Harry One of Klein's guild put in. "Here that is only partly the case. You start with a set number of skill slots and earn more as you level up. There are no jobs so you have more freedom before being basically locked into a fighting style and any other occupations you choose to take up."

Asuna obligingly showed them the list of skills for her character. Acrobatics, Extended Weight Limit, Purchase Negotiation, Sneaking, Sprint, Armor Pierce, Light Metal Armor, First Aid, Parry, Cooking, One-Handed Rapier.

"Everyone starts with two skill slots and the Sprint skill. Most people get the One-Handed Sword skill simply fighting monsters with the beginner equipment before getting the third skill slot at level six," Asuna informed them with a gentle smile. "Skill slots are awarded 2 at level 1, 1 at level 6, 1 at level 12, and 1 at level 20 then 1 every tenth level after that. Its common to have more skills than slots and every skill can be trained up to level 1,000 which is complete mastery."

"Attempting an action or two a couple of times opens up most skills as needed unless there are special requirements for unlocking them. However, because you are limited in skill slots any time you remove a skill from a skill slot it zero's out and you have to start all over to get it up to shape again unless you store it in a special item to keep your skill progress. In most games there isn't usually a decrease in skill ability unless you die or meet a different qualification like the skill hasn't been used recently enough or you got sent to jail," Klein expanded happily.

"Just like with magic armor and potions in stories the gear you put on or the weapons you use can help or hinder you depending on the gear stats and your own stats in addition to the effect of your personal style. Some things look identical but the durability and stats might be entirely different. Durability references how long an item can last by comparing damage done to it with how much durability is left. A 1 durability usually won't survive hitting the ground from a fall out of your hand," Agil put in. "Food, clothing, armor, weapons... all of it has durability in this game. Durability hits zero and it shatters. Its basically hit points for the object and said object has to be repaired or replaced since it doesn't heal naturally like a living thing does. In a player HP goes through color stages. Green and you are golden, yellow and you need to watch it, orange and you need to be especially careful, red and you're getting close to shattering... to death."

"We know some of this from watching the archived footage while we were trapped," Tom told them. "Even in the dream state we were in we figured parts of it out. Thank you for covering it any way."

"Which explains that earlier threat about red health bars and how green-eyes knew what an NPC was and asked about Death's GM access," Klein said with evil cheerfulness.

"Just because I've never _played_ before doesn't mean I don't know a few gaming terms," Harry grumped. Tom and Severus just smirked in amusement at his pouting.

"Do you need us to tell you how to use the rest of the menu and the various parts of it? Or the Inventory?" Asuna asked intently. Everyone else was laughing or groaning over Klein's commentary.

"We might need some sword skill practice and practice handling weapons before getting help customizing our builds but I think we're mostly good," Harry assured the raid group. "I noticed that players can interact with something by tapping it and it either works or gives you options and using a pinch motion then pulling it down like an invisible zipper opens the menu. All of it is like touching a screen for it to understand you want it to do something once the menu is open."

"Basically," Kirito agreed.

"Once we get to the teleport gate and get some rest someone has to take them to floor one and run them through basic sword skills before helping them customize their build," Agil rumbled thoughtfully.

"Why don't you, Asuna, Kirito, and Klein with his guild do that? The Knights of Blood can reimburse you for anything spent to get them kitted out for their level and otherwise up to speed," Heathcliff suggested carefully.

[Hidden Quest Wizard in a New Land Complete: Provide a Basic Tutorial for New Players Wizard trio. Reward: 100,000 col, 2 health potions, 2 healing crystals, 1 corridor crystal]

The quest award box appeared in front of Asuna, Kirito, Klein, Agil, and Harry One as the only people to have explained anything.

"Okay, either Kayaba is screwing with us or whatever AI is running Anicrad is more alive than we thought," Klein complained in shock.

[Hidden Quest Ghost in the Machine: Locate and unlock free communication between players and Cardinal System. Reward: ????]

' _Bad Cardinal_ ,' Kayaba, aka Heathcliff, mentally scolded the system AI like a naughty puppy. The quest was given so he wouldn't mess with it but that didn't mean he liked the premise of the quest.

"Can anyone join that quest?" Harry asked with open interest. In response the quest screen popped up in front of everyone, offering them a chance to accept or decline the quest. Almost everyone accepted the quest figuring it was something potentially important.


	3. System Update - Magic Development Enabled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! (because some people have a problem with using christian mythos in fan fiction)
> 
> The Bible and Christian Mythos are integrated at various points as part of the _background_ information. Some of which is extrapolating on canon or fanon. Any flames will be answered with rebuttals and/or used for toasting pop tarts.  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Edit: I am trying to fix a formatting error so please treat underline like italics until its fixed.  
> ... Okay, I think I found the problem, a single missing backslash to end an italics. Should be fixed now.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later Harry was dodging the latest mob attack, sliding under the swinging ax of a Taurus Ironguard on floor two. A quick tri-pierce, similar to the Rapier attack Triangular, to the gut shattered the Minotaur-like mob. The satisfaction of watching the last mob die was its own reward and the small amount of col was a nice bonus.

As much as the newly translated official levels and skills of the three wizards had them around level 50 personally it had been generally agreed that they needed the practice learning about the mobs and fighting them. As a result Kirito had volunteered to walk them through the first floors as a break from the front lines and to help them get used to being in Sword Art Online. As a solo player that was also a front liner his time was his own and he could spend it any way he chose without worrying about anyone else. Kirito and Agil were taking on the large majority of helping the three wizards with Klein and his guild helping a bit for group tactics and activities. It would still be a while before the three wizards could join the front lines with a ten level buffer recommendation between players and the floor they worked on.

"Very good Harry. You've got really good Outside System Skills. Remember those skills can be developed and used IRL, In Real Life, mostly because it isn't the system but _you_ who has the skill," Kirito said approvingly.

"What did he use?" Tom asked with interest.

"At a guess Precognition, Insight, and Hypersense. Precognition and Insight are mostly the same with a difference of distance and which pattern type you pay attention to, they predict the next attack. Insight does it at a distance by watching the attack pattern while Precognition is more like recognizing the movement in mid-motion. Hypersense though is the hardest one you can ever pick up, sensing another person before you see or hear them," Kirito smirked approvingly. "Hypersense doesn't usually work on mobs but it can if you are enough in tune with the system. I'm not surprised because its clear you three are more here than the rest of us so all of this is probably more real to your senses then to mine and I have Hypersense."

"Are there more?" Harry asked, getting back to his feet.

"Several but you really only need to know three more Arms Blast, Mislead, and Switch. Arms Blast is targeting a weak point in a weapon to destroy it. Mislead is exactly what is sounds like, tricking the monster's learning AI to burden the processing speed even if it might need a lot of people doing it at once to work at times. The same can be done to people when faced with defending yourself against Red Players. Switch though is just a tag out mid battle to let someone recover HP or to recover from the delay forced by a successful sword skill," Kirito informed them. "Switch is used by all front liners and anyone who works regularly in groups."

"I miss my lab," Severus pouted, earning a laugh from Harry and a sympathetic look from Tom.

"I wish we could fly," Harry said wistfully. It had always been one of his few pleasures since discovering magic with the bonus of getting him away from people.

"It might have escaped your notice but once the game is cleared we've been basically told that we get new bodies and will manifest very publicly with everyone else trapped here just waking up as their bodies change into their game avatars. It may take time but Severus will be able to brew again and Harry will be allowed to fly once we get out," Tom pointed out with a snort of amusement at their unnecessary melancholy. "If we happen to be in an alternate reality on top of all of that we can re-create anything we please. Simply escaping SAO once cleared will destroy any statute of secrecy about magic in this world and dragging them out of the shadows is one of our tasks in any case."

"Remind me of the magical and political nightmare waiting for us why don't you?" Harry snarked sarcastically. Tom just smirked, enjoying Harry's irritation. 

Kirito watched them interact with interest. It was clear that they knew each other IRL or at least what _was_ IRL for the three of them before they got dumped into SAO. The words of Death left reality somewhat in doubt for the three and made it all the more important to help these three stay alive and allow them to prosper in SAO.

"Be careful, brat, we might just be the monsters that eat you up," Severus snarked in response to Harry's earlier laughter. A hint of hurt was barely hidden over the perceived jab at his love of potions

"That... should I be taking that as innuendo, an actual threat, a sarcastic retort, or a playful jab?" Harry asked with serious yet puzzled curiosity. "Besides I wasn't laughing about you liking potions but the hiding away in the castle dungeons. I still want to learn about potions but not as badly as I did that first class. Maybe I'll be able to learn here before we go back... I love cooking."

"Potions is _nothing_ like cooking," Severus scowled. "Haven't you learned that by now? A single mistake, a sliver of extra root, a drop of extra extract or juice or blood could turn the potion into a deadly explosion!"

"Ah, not soup, bread. Bread has to have really good measurements to work just perfectly. I learned in chemistry in primary school that its because the fluffy bread is because of a special reaction between everything, especially with the yeast. I had a hard time learning to do it right when Aunt Petunia made me learn how to make it without help," Harry mused with a blink of surprise.

"Not quite," Tom corrected bemusedly. "Its more like a ritual. One smudge or swapped ingredient can turn you into a non-magical newt verse the intended fire-proofing so that you can walk through dragon fire. Completely different out comes for simple mistakes. A physical version of that classic charms mistake of mispronouncing a spell only to get a buffalo dropped on your head instead."

"Oh... Oh! Why didn't you just say so?" Harry asked in an aggrieved tone.

"I _did_ you dunderhead," Severus scowled. "If you had bothered looking through the required pre-class course material or listening to your magical tutor before Hogwarts I wouldn't have had to put up with such idiocy!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked with a blank incomprehension that stopped both of his fellow wizards in their tracks.

"Surely you got the standard Hogwarts package? Or at least bought the supplementary books on the second page of the supply list?" Tom asked in disbelief. "Not to mention whoever came around regularly and taught you the basics of the magical world? About your family history? Who was your magical guardian?"

"I got two pages of parchment, a welcome letter and a single list of supplies. I didn't know about the Wizarding World until my eleventh birthday when Hagrid came and found us on the rock my Uncle hid us on after the continuous avalanche of owls and letters they wouldn't let me open. Uncle kept burning them in the fireplace," Harry answered cautiously. "I didn't know any magical guardian... ever. Didn't find out about much until Hagrid took me shopping and started telling me things. The hat wanted me in Slytherin but I had met Malfoy and he acted like my cousin. I didn't want to be set on fire in my own bed and Ron was already my first human friend. Hedwig was my first friend and my first present."

The looks of disbelief from both Slytherins had Harry shrugging uncomfortably and turning to stalk off down the next labyrinth corridor. Kirito looked at the two stunned men with a cautiously jaded eye before commenting. 

"Perhaps you do not know as much about him as you both thought you did. It almost sounds as if someone sabotaged him. The entire thing makes me wonder what he could do on an even playing field or with proper support even though I don't even really know you guys yet," Kirito said softly before following after Harry, confident that the other two would follow soon after if only to argue with the green-eyed wizard.

The three men ran into Harry's back almost immediately as he stood stock still at sword point.

"Heathcliff? What's going on?" Kirito asked warily as the three tried to edge around so that he didn't have all four of them trapped.

"What did you do to my _world?!_ " Heathcliff snarled in barely controlled rage.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry bit out.

" _Magic_ ," Heathcliff bit back angrily. "Players have started using the elements."

"Wait! _Your_ world?!" Kirito asked, getting angry as he made the connection. "You're _Kayaba!_ You trapped us all in here and turned it into a death game!"

Kayaba just looked at them for a moment before hitting something on his menu, they were instantly falling to the floor paralyzed, leaving them at his mercy.

"I had hoped you would figure it out Kirito but not like this. I suppose I shouldn't have lost my temper over something I had specifically tried to prevent entering my world suddenly appearing. Especially after these three suddenly appeared the way they did. I will admit to freeing those under twelve myself to try and limit the damage and because that reaper had a point about them. It was why I had the age limit on the game in the first place," Heathcliff sighed sadly, suddenly in complete and total control of himself. "I won't kill any of you but you won't be able to reveal my identity or anything else I don't want you mentioning."

A dark chuckle echoed in the area surprising all of them.

"Do you think you can actually bind my master if I don't allow it?" Death's voice echoed around the chamber they had been ambushed in by Heathcliff. "Normally I wouldn't interfere but repairing brain damage is a right pain unless I have to completely rebuild his body. If you aren't careful that's exactly what will happen, especially since the three wizards are physically present as part of the system. They aren't in nerve gear with some of the safeties you specifically added to keep the players unharmed except for the kill switch you exploited."

"They are _more_ vulnerable to secondary damage effects even when said effects are not a classified portion of the system due to their greater presence?" Heathcliff asked, intrigued.

"Yes," Death agreed in amusement. "Now, I could simply repair the damage but I don't feel like it and it isn't actually necessary since you already know of me in a more... personal sense than my usual customers. As for the magic, what part of _new magical race_ confused you?"

"Oh... I suppose that I didn't fully consider the ramifications of that. Did you ensure that Cardinal would not be unduly affected with the supposed fact that magic versus technology isn't usually known as a sustainable mix in any form?" Heathcliff asked with open interest.

"Certainly, its part of why Cardinal and Yui can earn the ability to manifest in their own unique forms. The creator even granted them souls on the grounds that they would be living and growing near-humans by the end of all this. Its not that far from what the Christian bible promises in Revelations chapter 20. Lord Jesus will return to take up his throne as the King over the Earth and Man with the Saints ruling as his advisors and the like for a thousand years while the Fallen Prince of Lies wallows in his punishment in the pit. They will then be released for a time for one last attempt at corrupting people before being finally brought to heel permanently as all of humanity, living and dead, faces the final judgement before the throne. Each soul will be judged by their works and if their name is in the book of life, accepted Lord Jesus, or not. They will then either be cast into final eternal torment or be transformed into eternal uncorruptible forms to walk forever with both Lord Jesus and his Lord father. The transformed will join the family as it were," Death cackled. He _loved_ reiterating that part of scripture and divine prophecy. His role was vastly misunderstood as he was both collector of spirits and guardian of them until the final judgement.

"But doesn't that only apply to humans? Would it even still apply to us after the change?" Harry asked with a frown. Paralyzed he may be but he could still talk.

"Of course it doesn't just apply to humans, much less only non-magical ones as you were thinking. The final sacrifice and gift extended to one and all if only by accepting that you have done wrong and repenting while accepting the gift of Jesus' sacrifice. Even a demon, a fallen angel, can be redeemed if they bother to realize that what they did was wrong and asked for forgiveness," Death shrugged. "Its part of how anyone can be accepted back into grace after the path was re-made with the crucifixion. Most demons simply don't see that they've done anything wrong and thus don't see the need to seek forgiveness regardless of the divine laws they have broken. Your status and my own are tied into all of that but it manifests in a... unique manner as you can probably tell. In comparison to my Lords my own authority as the Angel of Death and Death Incarnate is vastly limited. You are still subject to the final judgement, you just get a few extra proofs and extra time to choose versus most humans."

"And the command not to suffer a witch to live?" Tom demanded angrily.

The orphanage matron had loved using that against him and calling him demon child before arranging for him to be painfully exorcised without a word of warning. Repeatedly being starved of food and water while being tied down and chanted over by a priest who looked at him like little more than something to kill until he nearly died was not something that endeared him to anyone involved. It had been his magic that had kept him alive and sane. It had also been his magic that told him what they were doing was wrong and had nothing to do with god.

Further research into the scripture they were twisting via a stolen pew bible revealed that simply invoking the Christ and commanding the demons to leave by his name, especially done by the faithful, was more effective than whatever Tom had been subjected to. Less dangerous for the subject, actually worked, and needed nothing more than the words spoken. It didn't even need to be in any particular language as long as the call for aid was honest.

Tom's similar search through the bible about Magic found no specific prohibition against its use only against certain practices. The specifics of which he didn't manage to decipher before the book was taken from him by the matron who punished him harshly for theft and being a demon child thinking the Christ would want him. Something which _Death_ had just confirmed was possible, that he was wanted by someone so good as Jesus. Such a being would know better than a stupid malicious Orphanage Matron. Which begged the question of what Tom was going to do about this new knowledge...

"Magic is something any human can do. The term witch and its meanings have changed since the script was written down. To clarify, malicious use of magic against one's fellows is forbidden as are divination, necromancy, acting as a median, anything really to do with interacting or summoning the dead. Any who use magic are greatly encouraged to use it through worship of the Lord as there are extra benefits and protections from doing so. Use of magic its self isn't actually forbidden," Death explained, confirming Tom's scant boyhood research. "It was in common use in the court of King David and in various royal courts over the millennia. It is only in recent centuries that idiots have convinced near everyone that magic, spirits, demons, angels and the like are but fantasy. In the full context of the original language, which was clearly twisted, the forbidding of witch and witchcraft as well as sorceries, among other terms, referenced malicious use of magic or use of forbidden arts such as divination and anything to do with the dead."

"Inferi?" Harry asked curiously, remembering the cave full of the creatures that had guarded the fake locket.

"Falls under the forbidden," Death confirmed. "It is part of my task to see that the original souls of such defiled bodies stay where they belong rather than return to the reanimated forms."

"The rest of the Dark Arts?" Severus asked in interest. As much as the question might damn him with his own use of that branch of magic he still honestly wanted to know.

"Mostly they should be restricted because they draw on magic tainted by demon energy bleeding through into your reality from a demonic reality or at least one so opposed to the energy of your own to be dangerous," Death shrugged. "The foreign energy has a malicious and corrosive effect on humans but it retains enough instinct and intelligence to target the damage first to the brain and moral compass while giving a... sense of euphoria when in use by humans. Its not unlike some of the more damaging chemical drugs used for illegal recreation. Working with those same magics while calling on the Lord purifies the magic before it enters the user, eliminating the danger and often increasing the healing rate from prior damage from various sources."

"What are the other players using?" Heathcliff asked cautiously. If they were using the tainted energy he _had_ to put a stop to it. The link created by the NERVEgear was dangerous and fragile enough as it was! It was also one of the reasons he had been so upset with the introduction of real magic with its reputation for dangerous incompatibility with technology. If the players were going to die in game he wanted them killed by the game its self not some freak interaction of magic and tech messing with them.

"Not much... _yet_. It will be up to them to develop their own kind of magic use as a new magical species," Death informed them with a smirk. "It might stay entirely elemental, it might branch out into things less element focused, it might become something entirely new, or it might become more esoteric. It is _magic_ after all. The minor speed boosts, licks of flame on a weapon, and the slight defense or healing boost are _nothing_ compared to what could develop."

They all felt it when Death left them to their own devices.

"Possibly one of the strangest things to have ever happened to me," Harry declared after a moment of quiet pondering. The incredulous stares from his fellow wizards told Kirito and Heathcliff that they were _definitely_ missing something important.

"They've been making comments like that the whole time," Kirito complained. "All of them are phrased as if they are from a culture we have no knowledge of _at all_. There's definite western influences but its almost if there is a second culture completely unknown to the rest of us living alongside those from the west. Considering what Death told us it wouldn't really surprise me if they lived in a magical community separate from the rest of us."

"Actually, Asia has its own versions that isn't as tightly hidden by history but the three of us are from the British Isles. I mostly lived and worked in Scotland where all three of us went to the same Alma Mater. I taught there after getting my certificates and convincing the Headmaster to hire me," Severus explained with a twitch-like shrug, barely able to move due to the paralysis. "I believe Japan's was mostly centered in Hiroshima and decimated as a result by the Hydrogen Bomb that landed there in World War Two. I learned of it in Primary school, though I naturally didn't understand at the time."

"I lived through that. Those bombs from the Yanks and the mess of the Blitz are part of the reason I felt we needed to separate further," Tom grimaced. "No chance of that now, not with our orders to drag everyone back into the open. On that note it wouldn't surprise me if those commands didn't turn into a gies once this game is cleared should we refuse to even attempt to complete them."

"Really? You think attempting to defy the Angel of Death after all of that is a good idea?!" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Exactly my point. I _don't_ currently think its a good idea, past personal idiocy aside," Tom sighed grumpily.

"If we weren't still paralyzed I would drag you off somewhere and find a way to punish you. Perhaps being stuffed into a nice bikini number and strung up on the steeple of one of the town squares for a day?" Severus snarled at Harry. "Are you _trying_ to provoke him into actually killing you this time?!"

"He doesn't know?" Tom asked surprise.

"Only about me being one because Dumbledore made him tell me I had to let you kill me once the others were gone, but possibly not all of the specifics. I'm also fairly sure that _no one_ knew I would in any way survive that death. I think he knew _what_ they were from private study but not all of it. Besides neither of us know if it carried over into this mess. Yes, Death brought the two of you back and kidnapped me, breaking my marriage bond and probably making everyone believe I'm actually finally dead. Do we know what else is going on aside from the fact we get new bodies and new lives once SAO is over? Nope, nothing, nada," Harry shrugged as much as possible while paralyzed. "For all I know the three of us will have to stay within arm's reach of each other once we are out of here or we might wind up in a weird three way marriage bond or something equally uncomfortable for the three of us. I have no bloody clue! I mean _I_ can tell that you have your whole soul but I knew several different pieces and interacted with them while hunting them. Snape only knew the insane Voldemort version of you with less than 1% of your soul. I think he just doesn't have a proper frame of reference, possibly for either of us."

"What _are_ you talking about?!" Heathcliff demanded.

"See what I mean?" Kirito sighed. Sometimes he had serious trouble following their conversations. Thus far he had refrained from asking because it was clear they were talking about the outside which was something of a forbidden subject among players in an attempt to preserve a measure of sanity while trapped.

"So the outline that Death gave us doesn't count?" Tom said dryly, trying to shift into a more comfortable position and failing due to his still paralyzed state.

"I'm just saying that while there are obviously expectations we don't actually know what is going on. We could just be getting screwed over but we could just as easily be a part of some cosmic chess game or Fate decided she liked us after how we performed with that _child will vanquish the dark lord_ prophecy we were stuck with," Harry shot back irritably. "We don't have enough information to try and get free but I am betting any kind of tantrum will get us spanked."

"Who are you and what have you done with Potter?" Severus demanded sharply. The brat couldn't be Potter if he was acting this maturely with such insight.

"He's not hiding anymore," Tom chuckled darkly. "Its still Potter just not the one he has ever let many, if any, people see. What a Slytherin you would have made."

"They wanted me to _die_ for them like a good little puppet weapon without a word beyond you must do this and a pat on the head. Why would I show them?" Harry snarled darkly. "Especially after seeing them treat someone just like me as the devil incarnate to be destroyed with little thought beyond simply ending them and no care for the blood they would shed? _No_! It was all I could do to _hide_ , damn it!"

"And why are you telling us this?" Severus asked neutrally. This was something he _needed_ to know, especially if he was going to prove to himself that _this_ was the real Potter and not necessarily the brat he thought he had taught for six years.

"You were one of the only people able to tell something was wrong with me and the red-eyed idiot actually got free, even if he went insane and started committing atrocities to do it. I _know_ there was a better method he could have used but I digress. You were also both large influences in my life and have been dead for _years_. Its not my fault that I didn't figure out until too late those bastards were forcing me to kill two of the only people who might remotely understand," Harry huffed almost petulantly. "Of course your grudge against my father didn't exactly help much. I _really_ wanted to learn potions then you went and ruined it! Then again Malfoy didn't help with how was always tossing stuff into my cauldron to ruin my potion. Sometimes it took some real work to keep those sudden additions from turning the potions dangerous and explosive."

"Wait, you were actively countering sabotage on a regular basis on my class and you _still_ managed to turn in semi-usable potions?! Without getting anyone killed or forcing me to constantly toss things into your cauldron myself to neutralize dangerous reactions?!" Severus exclaimed. "Once we get out of here you will be making _every_ potion I can come up with for you to make!"

"Um, okay?" Harry agreed warily. He was hoping he had simply missed part of the conversation somehow rather than the other man demanding torture time in the lab after they got free. Either way he wouldn't put it past his former teacher. "Its not like I'm a Potions Master much less also a Potions Genius like you."

"Perhaps we should institute a potions making aspect," Heathcliff mused. "If you all would be willing to contribute..."

"Can we add flight?!" Harry asked excitedly. He _really_ wanted to fly!

"What would we get out of it?" Tom asked suspiciously.

"That," came a musical female voice. "Is an excellent question!"

They all stared as a tall yet regal pale skinned woman, clad in an ebony toga-like full length dress manifested near them. She had jet black hair, glowing dark purple eyes lined with coal, red painted lips, and a red-eyed black hound at her feet.

"Lady Magic I presume?" Harry sighed. The four paralyzed men suddenly found themselves able to move again as she gave the five of them an amused look.

"This is getting out of hand," Heathcliff muttered moodily as he rubbed at his face before returning his attention to the room at large.

"You won't be surviving any of this and we put a lot of work into retrieving our three favorite wizards, not to mention arranging for everyone's work and upgrades to _stick_ ," Magic told the man scathingly. "You have no idea what favors we had to call in and petitions we had to make to get this to work even after we saw Harry basically dying a slow soul death. Kirito, on the other hand, is earning his place as a potential favorite nicely as are a few others but that is for later."

"Weirdest luck _ever_ ," Harry muttered moodily only to find himself suddenly clad in a pink frilly dress with blond hair and braided pig tails. Apparently, his lack of appreciation of their hard work to keep him and his companions among the living was irritating to the Lady, which meant it was likely irritating to any others involved as well.

"Shirley Temple?" Severus snickered, trying not to smile or laugh out right.

"I am _not_ Shirley Temple," Harry said irritably after imagining what he probably looked like based on what he could see and the man's comment alone.

"While I have never bothered seeing a Shirley Temple film the descriptions somewhat match," Tom drawled in open amusement. Harry growled back, displeased by the general amusement but unable to argue that his own smart mouth hadn't earned him the prank.

"One of the reasons I bothered manifesting is that while the initial manifestation will take a large amount of magic, something we tied to the end of puberty for those who are not in SAO, the ability set is still a bit limited. A pocket dimension tied to your soul along with the menu and most of its options, the ability to specialize your physical form within the constraints of its natural shape, full health upon leaving SAO, and carrying the full knowledge of any skills learned here into reality. Its not that much even with translating any pets, gear, items, potions, crystals and the like," Magic shrugged. "Getting your input as members of the current long standing magical humans and community will help a great deal. Right now the elemental manifestations are limited to a speed boost connected to wind, minor flames dancing along a weapon creating a very small damage boost, earth boosting defense a touch through both footing and gear, and water boosting healing a touch. Nothing beyond a five point boost for each element."

"Can we have flight?" Harry begged, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

The tinkling laugh that question earned made them all think of airy bells.

"A thought? What if you manifested Anicrad in the real world? Possibly limited access to it? Added some floors or satellite areas and made it a safe haven for all things and people magical?" Kirito suggested carefully. If this place hadn't been a death game or had actually been real at the start he didn't think he would have minded this self contained world and its wonders as much. He was fairly certain he would have loved it all the more. Kayaba's insistence on twisting SAO into a massive trap crossed with a death game had tainted it somewhat.

"I'll keep it as a possibility should things go too poorly after everyone has manifested and attempted proper integration," Magic promised, amused. "There would be some details to be worked out first and some of the Boss monsters are the equivalent of world enders. Not necessarily a bad thing if kept contained yet once Aincrad becomes real in truth they may not _stay_ contained. At best or worst I would provide a ritual for you all to perform to create a fortress based on something be it a diagram, computer source code, a book, or description of the place. Certain things would need to be specified such as an ecosystem if it was self contained, some way of obtaining food and materials or a way to make and grow it yourselves. A giant stone castle without any furniture or stores or anything beyond stone walls might be a bit less useful to all of you versus a fully stocked castle with an orchard, lake, vegetable and herb gardens, and perhaps a nice sized forest or at least a magical self replenishing storage area complete with cistern or water tower. Then there is the equipment you might need like bed, tables, silverware, pots and pans for cooking, etc."

"Ah, yeah, that doesn't sound good, fighting world enders and all," Harry agreed with a blink of surprise. "Then again while needing to be specific on the castle or other location creation might be a pain the idea is still _awesome_!"

"Did you all extend the healing to preserving the physical bodies which are likely in hospital while we attempt to clear the game?" Severus asked thoughtfully. "If we are still racing time those here need to know. If nothing else I've noticed dangerous signs of burn out and Shell Shock, more recently labeled PTSD."

"Yes, its a part of the preparation process we instituted in reference to the transformation. There are a few people Death insisted he had to claim before you all get free but for the most part the player's original bodies won't fail before the transformation is complete, which its self includes a full healing. You all can only die now due to malicious action in the outside world or because SAO killed you," Magic answered approvingly. Thinking of such a possible loop hole and plugging it was something she would have been disappointed about had they failed to ask. "In answer to your real question you have permission and the ability to force them to slow down and take rests without personal consequences to the players."

[System Query: May the information related to the changed circumstances be posted to all players?] the pop up appeared in front of everyone present as if unsure who to address the question to yet believing they should all be aware of the question regardless.

"Certainly, dear Cardinal," Magic agreed, grinning widely. "Until you and Yui have gained a physical form the side effects of having magic and technology attempting to operate in the same space and energy spectrum have been mitigated. This is largely to prevent... accidents. It is also why we are able to cause certain effects without the magic and such demanding a high cost, we are using the excess data and linked electricity as base material, energy, and for some operational instructions. You won't need to issue the delete command upon completion, the data will be used to help fuel the translation of status. For the refuge creation ritual if you insist on using Aincrad I would suggest modifying the code you will need to use just a touch."

[System Query: Is sharing clips of this event and the initial event permissible?]

"You want the players to have more than a simple summary in case you missed something in your own analysis?" Magic mused thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose, provided they have at least personally reached survivable levels for passing the twenty-fifth floor. So roughly level 35 and above. Make certain to indicate that actually leaving SAO is still contingent upon clearing the game and the fact that after ten years within SAO we might get a bit... cranky about any lack of progress in actually clearing the game."

[Acknowledged.] Cardinal agreed with a distinct flavor of happiness some how lacing the pop up.

"I know I'm forgetting something," Magic mused. "Ah, well I can deal with it when I remember again toodles!"

Magic and her hound vanished in the blink of an eye without a by your leave. Harry was also, thankfully, returned to normal. After all the Shirley Temple look had no defenses and would have gotten him killed by the next mob they came across. How embarrassing would that be? Killed by a mob because you got pranked as punishment by Lady Magic?

None of them could yet realize the potential impact their little conversation would have on the magic of Aincrad, it inhabitants, and its captives.

"That just... You know, I don't think I want to deal with this right now," Heathcliff declared, rubbing at his head in open pain.

"I suspect that this is standard for the imp's luck," Severus agreed, gesturing at Harry who shrugged unrepentantly, not bothering to deny it. It wasn't like he had any kind of control when anything like this happened and they hadn't really made any attempt to hide his school year adventures. This was just on a slightly larger scale than those had been as far as he was concerned.

"You deal with this sort of thing a lot?" Kirito asked in a mix of exasperated concern and curiosity.

"Not this exactly but weird situations that shouldn't be even possible or are highly unlikely? Yeah, that happens _way_ too often," Harry admitted. "They became more unpredictable in scope and cause once Tom was dead and his minions mostly captured. _He_ had been trying to kill me since I was a baby based on a stupid prophecy spouted by a third rate hack. I really think it was given as a set up and arranged to be completed but I never managed to get the proof for it. We will have to ask Death or Magic the next time they show up. I get the feeling that they will pop in to comment whenever they feel like it now that we all know they have actual forms and solid personalities."

"So any time they get bored or feel like we are being idiots," Kirito said sardonically.

"Basically," Harry agreed cheerfully.

"I think I'm going to go back to being only the GM for a while, repairing glitches, damages from various cyber attacks, that sort of thing," Heathcliff muttered before heading off and leaving them behind in the floor's Labyrinth which always led to the boss room.

"So, third floor? Or do you want to do a couple of quests on this level?" Kirito asked for lack of anything better to say. He was fairly sure that Kayaba aka Heathcliff wouldn't let them talk about his identity but otherwise it looked like they would be left alone. Then again Cardinal sharing the recordings of both meetings might mean that the man had basically outed himself unless they were edited to keep that content hidden.

"Third floor!" Harry agreed with a mock charge stance before heading off in the direction of the 2nd floor cleared boss room.

"He is far too eager for this," Severus mused. It wasn't like these lower floors were an actual danger to them with their levels but once they got higher he would have to make sure Harry wasn't rushing in recklessly against something that could actually kill him. Then again the imp was taking their training/combat practice seriously and his risks against these lower monsters they were using for practice weren't all that unreasonable... yet.

"I don't think anyone ever formally trained him for combat. He may be using this all as a training opportunity or simply be having fun," Tom suggested, watching Harry enjoy himself traveling along the passageway. "This was originally all designed as a game."

It didn't take them long to get to the third floor and start on the waiting roaring wolf mobs.


	4. Home for the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a formatting error last chapter that is now fixed.  
> Enjoy that and this chapter!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Roaring Wolves were wolves with a brilliant yellow mane from head to back, a long, slender snout, and a two meter-long body. These mobs reminded Kirito very firmly that this floor was basically a giant forest with Treants that could hide from the searching skill and attack without warning, blending into the surrounding trees as fellow tree-like objects. The bright yellow mane of their current opponents was always something that made him think of trying to burn the ancient forest down around them on this floor, helping make the floor memorable. The other thing that made this floor memorable was the habit of every Roaring Wolf to call for more of them from the surrounding forest the moment they hit 1/2 HP.

"My turn to go first?" Severus asked mildly. Kirito had directed them in a group battle against the re-spawned floor 2 boss on the grounds that they needed to work together under someone else at least once for practice. This was especially important due to the fact that the main floor 2 boss had 2 boss level helpers called mid-bosses to go with the normal minions.

"Yes, I'll take the next encounter," Tom confirmed. They were swapping off who dealt with what to get used to using their skills until they got to a level where they couldn't handle a group of mobs alone in under a minute. They planned to switch to group tactics regularly once they hit _that_ mark rather than when only fighting boss monsters regardless of whether they were field bosses or floor bosses.

Harry nodded his own agreement as Severus stepped forwards gracefully. The Roaring Wolf growled low, recognizing the challenge, and shot forwards only to be knocked to the side by a vicious kick to the head, loosing nearly half its HP from the blow. The roaring wolf careened away off to the side before snarling and trying to bite Severus' leg off only to be speared from above and pinned to the forest floor through its neck before exploding into polygons.

All three wizards had opted to get the martial arts skill offered through a quest on the previous floor so that they wouldn't be restricted to weapons use only in a fight. None of them liked being helpless and all three had bad memories of being such against unarmed opponents. Kirito had just nodded unquestioningly and showed them the quest location, watching as they beat on the target rock with painted on whiskers until the rock broke and the NPC gave them the skill.

"Alright, you've gotten good enough not to make truly stupid mistakes with the basics if that pathetically easy defeat was anything to go by," Kirito pointed out, shaking his head ruefully. "We need to go up at least a couple of floors for you to get anything more than, don't trip or choke, out of the fights now that you obviously have an idea of how you need to move."

"The three of us have real life combat experience. It stands to reason we would adapt to some of the more basic things quickly," Tom pointed out reasonably. "Wands may not be blades but a number of the wand movements are based on blade use considering that swords, daggers, and knives were once commonly used for the off-hand in conjuncture with the wand or as a back up. Its only been in the last 100-150 years among the British magic users that its fallen out of use in favor of pure wand use aside from specializing duelists and old pureblood families that maintained the tradition."

"Lucius was very put out that I had no training with a sword once we graduated after beating him repeatedly in duels. So he forced me to learn the absolute basics," Severus said dryly as he sheathed his weapon. "It was what I based my _Sectumsempera_ spell around, the form of an invisible extended sword."

"Ah yeah, that one," Harry grimaced, remembering his careless use of the spell in his sixth year and nearly killing Draco. "Oh by the way Draco is happily married to Astoria Greengrass with kids. We patched up our rivalry and he was one of the few people who went looking for me the last time I disappeared for a bit too long. I think he's the only one who really checks on me and makes sure I'm not accidentally dead or something."

"That's kinda sad but I'm not sure I'm one to talk with my own issues," Kirito said sympathetically as he took out a teleport crystal. He loved the fact that the teleport crystals had gained a few extra uses and could now be re-charged rather than needing to replace them every single time after being used. "Teleport Taft!"

They landed at the teleport gate in Taft on the 11th floor.

"Maybe we should play with floor ten?" Harry suggested innocently. He had heard some players commenting on the fact it was called the Thousand Snakes Castle and he wanted to test to see if they could still talk to snakes even though a real test would probably have to wait until they got out.

"Why?" Tom asked suspiciously. He knew that _he_ could talk to snakes but why would Harry want to play with snakes or give Tom an advantage if he could actually talk to these Aincrad snakes. Besides the name of the floor might be exceedingly misleading.

"I just think we should go... look around a bit," Harry answered with a barely concealed smirk. Severus snorted and his obvious mischief.

"Tell me why? You have the levels and the strength that floor ten is way too weak for you. For that matter we should probably be going above the twenty-fifth floor for anything remotely useful in training you," Kirito pointed out.

"Alright, alright!" Harry sighed, giving way as all three of them looked at him suspiciously. "Before coming here I could talk to snakes and it didn't disappear like Dumbledore thought it would when Tom killed me that last time. I wanted to see if I could still talk to them here, even though I know I won't find out about normal snakes until we beat the game."

"It might be called the Thousand Snake Castle but it doesn't really have snakes. The Floor boss is a samurai," Kirito snorted in amusement. "Besides we fought some snakes on the first floor on the way to that quest with that cream reward. If you didn't understand those then it won't work for any that only speak snake, probably because the system doesn't actually have a language database for snake language. Although, if you want a pet we can go back down to the third floor and complete the pet quest so that you can get one."

"I do miss Hedwig," Harry pondered sadly. Getting a pet or a familiar because it was assigned by an AI just rubbed him the wrong way. No he wanted the animal because they wanted him back. He wanted a bond like what he had with Hedwig if he could get it, no matter what the creature was.

"I miss Nagini," Tom agreed sadly. He did miss the snake dearly but actively bonding with his fellow wizards and Kirito was helping far more than he thought it would.

"Knowing the two of you one or both of you will become bonded to a boss monster or the equivalent before all of this is over, no quest required," Severus snarked in pre-emptive aggravation. "Lets try to hold off on bonding to new familiars until _after_ leaving Aincrad, hmm?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry said with a roll of his eyes only to get whacked over the head for disrespect.

"~Maybe we should just test his tolerance a bit?~" Tom hissed, testing Parseltongue within the system.

"~Perhaps, I should see about seducing him? Or... both of you?~" Harry hissed back, gleeful to both speak and understand the serpent language once more.

"Oh lovely! They can torture us hissing behind our back," Severus grumbled throwing up his hands in exasperation, stalking off to one side muttering about trouble seeking Gryffindors and power mad Dark Lords.

"You guys really like messing with him," Kirito smirked.

"What can I say? He's got great reactions and won't let anyone take him down if he can help it," Harry shrugged with a predatory smirk of his own.

"I can't argue with that. It was one of the very reasons he was a regular favorite aside from his skills in my inner circle. One of the very few that I honestly respected even in my insane state of mind," Tom answered honestly, smirking as his own eyes followed the dour Potions Master.

"Ow! I thought that the pain was turned off on this blasted illusion world?!" Severus demanded as he hopped about a bit favoring his stubbed toe.

"Uh oh," Harry said softly. "I think... they are making it more _real_ in preparation for transition."

"It would make sense if you didn't want to jolt those trapped with the transfer," Tom hummed thoughtfully, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"The pain thresholds are going to sync up aren't they?" Harry asked with a resigned dread.

"Probably but I have no idea if we will be keeping the standard health bars but we were already promised the skills and enhanced healing," Tom concluded. "It will be easier if everyone receives the _exact_ same interaction set up rather than if some of it is missing. Equally, the difference might help them understand they are back in reality. It would help even further if it could be set to turn off the visual cues or set them to only activate in certain circumstances."

"We really need a bit of warning for stuff like that," Kirito frowned. "If it were on the outside I could understand the lack of warning but in Aincrad? The increase in pain will serve as a serious distraction in combat and just get people killed."

[System Alert! Pain thresholds have begun returning to outside Aincrad standard against Cardinal and Admin recommendation. Please return to a safe zone or town until transition is complete. Several video clips will be made available to you as you reach the safe zone to provide further information in regards to the changed parameters. Further anomalies are to be reported by players for documentation and threat analysis using the following formula: "Cardinal, anomaly report: {state anomaly}. End Report." Discovery rewards may be administered after confirmation of report. Anomalies may be labeled at a later time as part of the Magic Inclusion Patch. For further information see video clips.] Cardinal promptly announced.

"She has got to be paying special attention to us," Harry muttered as they headed for an inn as a group. They wanted to have rooms before someone else snagged all of them even if most players were either on the first floo or scattered over Aincrad at the moment.

"Did you hear? The wizard trio might gain the hidden crown!" one NPC exclaimed near them. Harry growled low, ignoring Severus' mocking eye-roll and Tom's sniggering. They had _obviously_ missed the fact that it was _wizards_ , _plural_ rather than singular. They had also obviously missed the fact that Cardinal had just confirmed they were being especially watched and ear marked for something.

"I want to be able to _fly_ ," Harry groused moodily.

"And I want to be able to brew. We can't always get what we want," Severus reminded him, not unkindly.

"Yeah, I know," Harry sighed, dropping his earlier pout. He knew that the other two knew he was acting out a bit.

The fact was that he was _comfortable_ enough with them by this point not to bother with the mask, as Tom had pointed out earlier, and safe enough to be silly. Even Ron and Hermione had needed something of a mask but Snape and Riddle? Even as enemies those two had _never_ needed a mask from him even though Harry had still given them one if only to maintain it with everyone but Hedwig. They had been enemies to one extent or another, ones that had _never lied_ to him. He was now returning the favor.

"So, practice?" Kirito offered. "We can use the square after we've paid for our rooms."

"Sounds good. We are in a safe zone so it won't kill anyone," Tom mused. "It will help us keep our movements in mind and work more closely together. Our styles might be able to merge a bit more with how often we've fought against each other and alongside one another."

"Basic skills, basics kill," Harry snickered. It was something he had heard an old military veteran say before Petunia hauled him away while Dudley got to stay and listen even if he got bored pretty quick.

"You aren't wrong," Severus muttered. "The same applies for most forms of combat, including magical combat."

That was about when Harry picked up on the stares they were starting to get from the other players and groaned.

"Great, another version of second and fourth year," Harry muttered with a scowl.

"What are you talking about?" Kirito asked, bewildered.

"How much attention we are being paid," Harry answered with a grimace. "We may want to find a room and hole up sooner rather than later."

"We're here any way," Kirito said, looking at Harry oddly as they set about getting rooms and supper for the night.


	5. Morning Discoveries

Harry's concern from the day before turned out to be well founded as the four of them found out at breakfast the next morning.

"Fruit bread, eggs, and pale ale each for the Wizard Trio. Eggs, wild boar meat, and hard cider for the Black Swordsman. Can I get you anything else?" the NPC asked pleasantly.

"You can tell us why you are using our nicknames rather than our actual names," Harry said promptly, while the other three were still staring in shock.

"10,000 people reduced by the harsh life of Aincrad, even including the outside families all accepting the change, is too small a population against several billion. Lady Magic actually considered your suggestions and some of her sibling aspects weighed in on the issue. We aren't all quite real yet because Lord Death is still looking through who can be reincarnated for this and who can't. We all get the life experience update from the hollow one we claim as our new body, the N. P. C.? But until we start adventuring or chose a profession to focus on our levels are basically stuck at around five, level ten with a specialty like merchant or blacksmith, level one if they are still hollow and without a soul. Until the primary dangers of this world are defeated at least once only the adventurers can really venture beyond the safe zone wards of the towns," the possessed NPC answered honestly. "Not every hollow one will host one of us and any marriages are still restricted to adventurers until Anicrad is cleared but we were made aware of the restrictions and risks before accepting. You four are allowed more knowledge than the other adventurers by decree of Lord Death, Lady Magic, Lady Fate, and several others as yet unrevealed. A touch point between everyone if you will."

"They are really serious about this," Kirito muttered in shock. As much as he had advocated not treating the NPC's as disposable characters in the past he hadn't actually thought that they were all that real.

"This is your fault. It has to be," Severus insisted, glaring at Harry accusingly.

"Do you need anything else?" the possessed NPC asked with open amusement.

"No, thank you," Tom answered for them swiftly. "We will say something if we need anything else."

The possessed NPC just nodded and went back to serving the other customers.

"One, this is not my fault if only because I wouldn't have even dreamed of it beyond already treating them as real any way. Two, my luck is fucking weird and I have not one wit of control over the blasted thing. Three, I doubt this is the last subtle big change that's going to happen and we had best get used to things changing at the drop of a hat," Harry pointed out calmly, using his fingers to emphasize his numbered points. "We need treat this as a completely new world and reality, a new culture, or else we are going to take stupid risks that could get us killed along with everyone else. You want to prank me as punishment? Do it for something I've actually done. Until its proven that its actually my fault you can threaten all you want but don't follow through without proof."

"Why weren't you in Slytherin again?" Tom asked mirthfully as Severus grumpily nodded his concession to the stated points.

"Fought with the hat," Harry admitted cheerfully before turning back to his food.

"What are you? Some sort of... reality catalyst?! Do you regularly bend and break reality, space, and time or something?" Severus groused. His cup shimmered and he suddenly had two mugs, one clearly filled with coffee and the other filled with a strong dark Irish tea. The four blinked at the change but the other three didn't stop the Potions Master from reaching out and swallowing down the coffee.

"Any good?" Tom asked with interest.

"Hmm, Brazilian roast a touch of cocoa beans mixed in and a half stick of cinnamon with a spoon and a half of pure sugar cane sugar," Severus analyzed. "Could do with a touch of peppermint but surprisingly good."

Light laughter and a hound's whine told them it was a gift from Lady Magic.

"She must know how grumpy you get without your morning coffee," Tom said mirthfully.

"Really? His teaching was _with_ coffee?" Harry asked in astonishment.

"Try in a great deal of pain on three to six hours of sleep nightly in a class where the slightest slip can kill more than just the dunderhead who made the mistake," Severus pointed out dryly as he relished his near perfect coffee.

"Can I have a taste?" Harry asked, deciding to let the matter of the man's teaching drop in favor of pulling out the puppy dog eyes.

"Get your own you menace!" Severus snarked, shielding his cup protectively. Tom rolled his eyes and smacked Harry, making him drop the puppy look and causing Kirito to smirk in amusement.

"Finish your food we need to practice a bit in the square and see how our pain threshold has adapted or if its still shifting," Kirito pointed out. "Reactions are different when you feel actual pain."

"Don't I know it," Harry mumbled grumpily as he turned back to his eggs and fruit bread. Breakfast was finished soon after. They made their way out to the designated town square, ignoring the blatantly watching eyes of player and NPC alike.

"Lets test our current pain levels first," Tom suggested, turning to swing his blade as he drew it and sliced into Harry's arm, and leaving behind a flesh wound.

"Ow! That hurt you asshole!" Harry complained as he examined the wound. Kirito sighed and turned to see how badly Harry was hurt only to freeze at the sight of an actual open wound that was bleeding slightly, showing sliced skin and the barest hint of muscles peeking from underneath the blood.

"Its not bad," Harry said considering. "It was more surprise than actual pain."

"Was there a difference from your memory of something similar?" Tom asked with open interest.

"Its at about half to a third less than my normal pain levels," Harry answered honestly after some thought. "But I've got higher tolerance than most people so don't quote me on that being the same across the board."

"What did you use?" Kirito asked with a deadly tone.

"Just my normal weapon, why?" Tom asked cluelessly.

"Normally there is a slice of red to indicate injury, _not_ an actual injury complete with blood, muscle, and sliced skin," Kirito answered with a false calm.

"My battle healing should be kicking in... right?" Harry asked uncertainly. They didn't have to answer as it did kick in and they all watched the wound close, healing without a trace. "Okay, that was strange."

"Cardinal, anomaly report: Player Harry Potter has displayed detailed wound and healing on par with real world presentation of battle healing skill after receiving a test wound in regards to investigating new pain sensation levels. End Report," Kirito said somewhat disconnectedly. "I think we should avoid getting hurt, even just a little bit for now. Lets start with practicing the basic sword skill triggering stances. Remember the system recognizes repeated ones, especially combos, after a time as your own created sword skills. Lets try to create a few for each of you today, okay?"

"I wonder if we can use our swords like wands," Harry mused thoughtfully.

"A dagger would be closer in length, size, and general shape but if the magic accepts it as a focus I don't see why not," Tom shrugged. "It _is_ how I figured out wandless magic before Hogwarts and used it to protect myself from the others at the orphanage."

"Check it later," Severus instructed sharply. He started in on a series of simple sword skill attacks a horizontal slash, followed by a vertical one then a diagonal one then a set that created a square with very little post skill freeze before moving swiftly into a vicious flurry of mixed stabs and slashes. The two of them followed suit with their own patterns. As the three moved on they mixed more and more things together, experimenting with the flow of movement and attack to see what best fit them and what best worked with the system restrictions until lunch time.


	6. Divine Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that prompted some of the tag changes.
> 
> Also, both ReflectionsOTR and Trickster32 have heavily contributed to this chapter. Of course ReflectionsOTR has been happily tossing ideas at me for the rest of it too but I finally remembered to put up a thank you. So... Thank You!
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside Aincrad:

Death, Fate, and Magic watched the chaos unfolding across the planet.

"That's done," Time sighed as he joined them in their watch. "I grabbed some people that have proven faithful or useful from various times and places. That SGC place was cloned before Dr. Janet Frasier died and I left the clones behind, mirroring the memories as needed every month or so after that. The Hirugashi family and Miko Kagome's friends as well as a few useful enemies from beyond the well 500 years prior, including the especially useful Yokai. The goblin, centaur, and aquatic magical nations are sealed away ready for us to reconnect them at our leisure along with a breeding population of all useful magical creatures including most that were labeled XXX and up. The associated player's families were kidnapped when we moved the players who would survive to those bunkers and facilities that I had to backdate. They can choose to continue humanity or convert as outlined by Death and Magic."

"Thank you," Magic said gratefully.

"Most of the new filled NPCs were dead Jaffa from beyond the Stargate from a few realities over in any case," Death shrugged, unconcerned. "A portion were Jedi or Sith from that one failed reality 6 realities spiral length, 9 realities outward, and 6 degrees towards the mauve. They got an overview of the current SGC situation that will unlock later once I was certain you were grabbing them."

"We could hook them in as a part of the Aincrad sim," Chaos suggested casually as he joined them.

"We could but then the Tok'Ra I snagged might throw a fit," Loki put in, joining them.

"You were planning on dumping them in front of the System Lords and making them take over in their place," Magic snorted, eyeing the Norse God of Mischief and Magic.

"It would be fun," Loki said persuasively. "They won't have earth and the SGC meddling, which the Goa'uld and more than half the Tok'Ra want any way. The Tok'Ra will have their shot at taking out the evil Goa'uld, the Jaffa will be freed, and the systems will be kept stable by the First Primes as a council. This will leave the galaxy ready for the Ori and the Wraith will continue to sleep until they naturally awaken. Then if they manage to get out of Pegasus Galaxy and into the Milky way they will have entire fleets and armies of Jaffa to beat."

"Were you the one that set loose the Zombie virus?" Fate asked archly, eyebrow raised in clear inquiry crossed with disbelief.

"Perhaps," Loki said, looking away from the rest of them. "Its not like the idiot Unspeakable had a proper hold of it or remotely adequate containment."

"Uh huh," Magic drawled, clearly not believing his audacity yet unsurprised by his answer.

"Did Severus just...?" Loki asked, startled, whipping around to stare into Aincrad along with everyone else. The zombie carnage was hardly interesting compared to what was happening in SAO, after all.

"How would you know which one cast that?" Fate asked suspiciously. "Was Severus even close to the actual caster?"

"If Loki has tagged Severus it probably has something to do with the constant prank warfare he engaged in with the Marauders and his corralling of the other pranksters at that school... Did we leave that intact?" Magic frowned. "I know we thought about linking up Hogwarts' mind to save her but I can't remember us actually doing something with the school or the students."

"The virus had a good hold on the school before they reached floor 25 but the house elves kept it contained as did the quarantine protocols built into the wards until we added the three wizards to SAO. I have gathered nearly all of the students and staff by this point. I can relinquish a few and insert them into Aincrad but not many. As for Severus... it looks like we have a little brother. Nyx was furious when he was stolen and hidden from the family, if you recall. Erebus wasn't exactly pleased either. Not that anyone could tell who or what he was before his first trip through the shadows, accident that may never be replicated or not," Death commented thoughtfully. "It wasn't even his power that sent him into the shadows but by the way the fight is going that little idiot red player is going to be mine before long. Ah, there he goes, beheaded by a furious Dark Lord and stabbed through the heart by the Beacon of Light we started all of this to save."

"Then its a _very_ good thing we brought the three of them back. Can you just imagine how upset Erebus and Nyx would be to find out he was dead?" Fate shivered. "That groin shot to that other red _had_ to hurt with the pain threshold holding steady at 3/4ths of natural levels."

"Nyx would have just demanded him back from me," Death sighed. "Three reds killed and six captured, not bad for the four of them."

"Thankfully, he's still young enough that neither of them will demand that I de-age him into an infant," Time commented ruefully. "Severus should be found in another moment or so. Ah, there he is. Odd, I didn't think there were sap traps like that in Aincrad."

"Aincrad is adapting, evolving," Chaos pointed out with a shrug. "Quests aren't the only things that can change."

"You think Nyx and Erebus will give you trouble? Forget it. Nemesis will be the one who could demand your head, Thanatos," Fate reminded him. "He had been her favorite baby brother, especially with his grudge holding skills being almost as high as her own ability in that regard."

"I hope you're right about that. If my mother learns about his abusive childhood it won't end well for any of us," Death moaned. He knew what his mother could do and there was a reason why even Zeus didn't aggravate her.

Suddenly Pandora's box dropped in the center of the current quest and once again Harry felt the urge to open the box. Before he got too close a harsh tackle by Severus landed him on the ground. Harry looked up into the eyes of a very pissed off Potions Master.

"Don't you even dare to consider risking a glimpse, Potter," growled Severus. His magic had felt something strange but still familiar and this box invoked bad memories. Memories from his earliest most infant thoughts of his sitter having to watch both him and the box. The box that someone mother-like had made very sure he knew was dangerous.

Tom and Kirito were completely shocked while Harry was somewhat resigned as out of the blue a female warrior appeared and contained the box anew. As she looked around curiously at her surroundings she noticed Severus. Before any of them could react beyond a blink of surprise she grabbed the startled Potions Master and left a note for a new quest behind.

> _If you want him back, then you have to defeat my men at the new Castle on the 40th floor. Should you lose... I will keep him forever.  
>  -Nemesis  
>  _

  
"What have I told you? _This_ is a worst case scenario," Death groaned, forgetting that he and his colleagues were still connected to the game and therefore suddenly visible for all players on this floor. Their elevated position alerted almost everyone on the floor to further strange happenings.

Harry and Tom hadn't understood, at first, what had happened to the third of their trio but as soon as Death and the other deities had appeared in front of them Tom added 2+2 together. Something clearly wasn't right and he would bet his former horcruxes that these people had somehow been responsible for it - or he could blame Harry's unusual luck. Maybe he was overdue to check the brat for a few luck curses... but that could wait until they recovered Severus from this strange kidnapping female and getting some answers from those strangers.

"Do I want to know? Or should I just go rescue the grouch blind?" Harry asked the assembled deities in exasperation.

"Nemesis is the patron of revenge and she not only likes Severus but has missed him?" Loki offered, throwing them a bone.

"So it is unlikely she will do more than hold him?" Tom guessed with ironic amusement over _Severus_ being the damsel in distress rather than Harry.

"I wouldn't say that," Loki shrugged with a barely hidden smirk. "My guess is that she is going to be hugging him a lot, giving him a medical check, and then probably stuffing him with food before trying to play dress up with him as the doll. I have no idea how much he will blame you guys for that but you might want to hurry. She could always decide to de-age him if she finds something that she immensely disliked."

"What aren't you telling us?" Harry asked warily. Over the years, he had developed a sixth sense if someone tried to kept him in the dark and it had taken the chance to scream loudly in his head just now.

"Nothing," Loki tried to sidestepped the question. Harry focused on the box that had upset Severus so much.

"We can made a deal. Answer all of our questions truthfully or I'll open this box and let _you_ deal with the results while we lean back and enjoy the show," Harry grinned evilly.

A loud scream of outrage threw them all to the ground. It seemed whatever the results were Nemesis wasn't amused... at all.

"We have to get him any way before the bond kicks in," Harry conceded ruefully, slipping the dangerous box into his inventory after double checking that it was properly secure as they all got back to their feet. That scream was bad news and they would have to hurry.

"The question is do we have enough time to snag extra health stuff or are we just going to have to use a teleport crystal and go for the castle without stopping," Tom pointed out thoughtfully. "From the sound of that scream I don't think we have much time."

"If I were you, I would hurry. The last time she was that angry, we lost Atlantis," Death verbally winced. _That_ had _not_ been a fun day. Added to this was the fact that their parents had a sixth sense for their children and if they heard her screaming they would come at once. He wasn't looking forward to such a visit.... the scolding about his Hallows was still very vivid in his mind.

Harry, Tom, and Kirito wasted no more time using a teleport crystal to get to Jaileum on floor 40.

**Author's Note:**

> Questions/Suggestions always welcome!  
> They make this a better fic and remind me when I've missed some thing! ;D


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